Before describing the causes of forest fires, I would like to note that today many people are dying from uncontrolled fire and whole villages are suffering. This element is the most terrible misfortune of mankind, because of which people, all living and inanimate nature suffer deprivation. Nowadays, as before, this is a fairly common problem.
Globality
Fire causes great harm to our environment. To the state, enterprises and to a person personally, a threat to life. Often the cause of the fire is the person himself. Any careless handling of fire or sources of ignition. For example, with an electric appliance, a cigarette, an unquenched match, a gas stove or electric welding. Violation of technological processes, rules for handling electrical equipment - this may already be the cause of the disaster for many people. Every year the number of fires increases significantly. If you do not carry out fire-fighting measures, there will only be more.
In our country, forest fires are very common, the causes of which will be considered a little later. Russia lost many sites in 2010. The fire swept over vast areas of the forest. According to statistics, more than 300 thousand hectares die annually.
Characteristic
It is worth noting its attention before analyzing the causes of forest fires. There are two types of the latter. Grassroots and horseback.
In the first case, the entire forest litter, lichens, small trees, mosses burn out, and the trees remain largely untouched, only the trunks (below, at the roots) burn the bark.
In a horse fire , the upper part of the trees mostly burns out. It is very dangerous, since the fire spreads along the tops of the trees by the wind, formed from the convective heat fluxes of the fire. Such a whirlwind can even carry trunks of burning trees over long distances.
Threat elimination
If the bottom fire in the forest is extinguished by water from tankers or other transported tanks, as well as by the forest plow by knocking down the flames with branches and ground, then the horse is eliminated by means of aviation with water.
There are exceptions. They direct the flame to the fire, which is created artificially. To prevent its spread, aircraft use caution not to get into the convective flow. That is, in hot air from a fire. If you are not careful, then the plane or helicopter may fall into the fire.
Anthropogenic causes
That is, those that are associated with a person. In fact, because of people, forest fires most often occur. The reasons are as follows:
- Careless handling of fire. This includes the carelessness of hunters and tourists who do not extinguish matches, bonfires and cigarette butts. Sometimes even a spark from the silencer of the car is enough to ignite the blade of grass with which the flame will spread further.
- Making bonfires on peatlands.
- Forgotten bottles in the forest or uncleaned fragments. Light passes perfectly through and refracts through them, due to which the lens effect is triggered (the principle of burning paper through a magnifier).
- The use of wads (again, we are talking about hunters) from those materials that are extremely flammable.
- Uncontrolled agricultural fires (burning of grass on distant pastures or hayfields) in autumn and spring.
- Ignoring fire safety regulations. A simple example: a man was driving along a forest in a car, stopped to fill a tank from a canister. He wiped his hands with a napkin, threw it to the ground, went on. Next came another driver, who was just documenting, and threw a cigarette out of the window. He gets on a napkin soaked with gasoline, and a fire occurs. Which extends to the forest.
These are the main causes of forest fires. Unfortunately, not all people think about the consequences. And many simply do not respect nature.
Natural factors
They also need to be mentioned when talking about the main causes of forest fires. In most cases, of course, the person is to blame, but natural factors do occur. Here is a list of them:
- Dry thunderstorms.
- Zippers.
- Tornado.
- Earthquakes.
- Storm
- Tornadoes.
- Hurricanes
- Peat bog ignition.
The first phenomenon is worth paying attention to. Dry thunderstorms are rare, but they pose a great danger. They are cumulonimbus clouds with precipitation. Which do not reach the ground, but evaporate. Everything is accompanied by thunder and a powerful electric discharge falling into the trees. And since there is no moisture (thunderstorms are dry after all), a fire occurs. Speaking about what are the causes of forest fires, it is worth noting that this phenomenon entails the most terrifying consequences. Since it is not known how many such dry thunderstorms can cause lightning.
Peat fires
They must also be mentioned. Peat is a product resulting from the incomplete decomposition of plant matter. Moreover, in conditions in which excess humidity reigns and there is not enough aeration. That is why this product is the most water-intensive of all existing solid fuels.
About what are the causes of forest fires, it was said above. And what factors provoke the fire of peat? The main ones are:
- Improper handling of fire.
- Self-ignition (occurs if the external temperature is above 50 degrees).
- Lightning discharge.
Fire specificity
Most often, a peat fire occurs for the second reason mentioned. Not surprising, because in the summer in the areas of central Russia, the soil warms up to 52-54 degrees. And since peat consists of hydrogen, carbon and oxygen atoms, ignition at this temperature does not take long to wait. It all starts with decay, and grows into a large-scale flame.
Of course, the causes of forest and peat fires can be identical. But listing them repeatedly does not make sense. It should only be noted that above the places of peat ignition, “columnar turbulences” of dust and ash are often formed, which are transported over long distances by strong winds and, as a result, cause new foci. This also causes many burns in animals and humans.
Effects
Discussing the main causes of forest fires, it is worth turning to the data of the Ministry of Emergencies of Russia. It contains very important information. It is said that these incidents are the main factors that determine the dynamics and condition of the forest fund of our entire country. In particular, the regions of the Far East and Siberia. There, the area of ​​dead plantations and fires is several times greater than the volume of clearings. The same applies to the European part of the country, but to a lesser extent.
The statistics are actually terrifying and make you think about what are the main causes of forest fires in order to do everything possible to prevent them. Why? Because forests cover 22% of the entire country! And every year at least 10,000 fires are registered in the Russian Federation. And as a maximum - 35,000. And this is only in the forests. And they cover truly gigantic areas - from 500,000 to 2,000,000 hectares. Needless to say, the damage is estimated at 20 billion rubles. In this case, up to 1/3 of the losses occur in forestry (loss of wood).
About man-made fires
The causes of forest and peat fires were listed above . Finally, at the end of the topic, I would like to briefly talk about technogenic ones. After all, they are especially dangerous.
These include fires at nuclear power plants, power plants and places with a lot of chemical industry, in oil storage facilities and oil refineries. And also in weaving factories where the collected dust can self-ignite. The consequences are global, because burning cotton is very difficult to extinguish, since it contains oxygen in large quantities, and even lowering the burning bale of cotton in the sea, it will not be possible to extinguish it. It will continue to burn under water at the bottom.
How to eliminate such fires? By the following substances:
- Water. The most common fire extinguishing agent.
- Sand. It serves to eliminate small fires.
- Extinguishing powders, foaming agent, carbon dioxide.
When choosing a substance, care must be taken. For example, a foaming agent with water is used to extinguish oil products. Its addition is necessary, since it forms an insulation from the ingress of oxygen into the tank with burning oil. However, it is impossible to extinguish oil products only with water, since it alone will not create protection against oxygen ingress and will decompose itself at high temperatures into oxygen and hydrogen, which will lead to an explosion.
Well, fire doesn’t spare anyone. In connection with numerous fires, it should be noted that you need to be very careful with nature and electrical appliances. One must be vigilant. When you see a burning cigarette or a bottle lying in the sun, it is better to remove it in order to save life for yourself, nature and people around. After all, mostly fires occur most often due to human fault. And this could be seen on the basis of everything previously said.